Lake Dallas safety, Xinjin Gomez, wins VYPE DFW Public School Defensive Player of the Year Fan Poll

With his junior season under his belt, Lake Dallas athlete Xinjin Gomez was voted as the VYPE DFW Public School Defensive Player of the Year by fans who participated in the poll. After winning the fan poll, VYPEDFW was able to catch up with Gomez to chat a little bit about what his time with Lake Dallas has been like.

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Making memories, the Secret to Success

The safety who also spends time on the field as a wide receiver has made plenty of memories while playing football. So far, his favorite memory is drawn from every single game and comes at the start of each fourth quarter. "Music starts playing and everyone on the sidelines start jumping," said Gomez. "The stands get loud and the coaches are hyped."

It's easy to make fond memories every game when you are used to giving it your all on the field game after game. As a successful student-athlete, fans might wonder what the secret to Gomez's success is: "Working hard and just knowing the game plan- giving it my all every time," said Gomez in regards to his success during his junior season. As far as the secret to the team's success? It all comes down to relationships with one another. "We stay close [as a team]," Gomez explained. "We never give up on each other."

In order to have a successful season, though, the hard work begins in the off-season. Many athletes use the off-season to unwind before getting back to the grind, but to truly stay focused defines an athlete better than anything else. In order to stay focused, Gomez trains every single day. "Most of the time [I train] twice a day," Gomez said. "I don't let what people say get to me and I just keep my head down."

Setting Goals for the season

It's always important for any athlete to set a goal and stick with it- whether it's a personal goal or a team goal. This season, Gomez had plenty of goals for himself as well as goals for the team with his mindset focused on wanting to get to the state game at the end of the season. For his personal goals this season, Gomez wanted to record over seven interceptions and at least 100 tackles. "I did not meet the numbers I wanted," said Gomez. "But I still feel like I accomplished so much this year."

As a team, it was a week-by-week mentality as far as goals were laid out. "We wanted to go 1-0 every week," Gomez told VYPE. "We had this saying: dirty berg mentality. It meant that we have the dog mentality and we can't let anyone outwork us."

A Bright Future

Although the soon-to-be senior has not yet committed to a college, he has not ruled out the idea of playing football at the next level. Gomez says he is looking for specific things in a college program: "I'm looking for a place that feels like home and I want to feel like they are part of my family. I want to be surrounded by determination not only from other players, but the coaches as well."

Gomez wants to major in business when he goes to college.

Fun Questions

Who is your favorite professional sports team?
"Indianapolis Colts!"

Who do you look up to as an athlete?
"I look up to Andrew Luck because he was a great leader and a humble guy."

If you could go to dinner with anyone (dead or alive), who would it be? What would you hope to talk about?
"My grandpa who I never got to see because I always wanted to ask him how my dad was when he was growing up."